About a week before Christmas we had some nasty weather move through our part of Michigan - very dense, heavy fog and moisture in the air that began to freeze on roads and everything else! When the fog finally cleared a bit in the early afternoon and I could see out to the pasture, I saw a goose. (I had to get the binoculars to really see what it was - at first I thought it was an injured deer or dog - LOL!) Anyway, I didn't think any more about it until the next morning, when the goose had moved closer to the barn. I watched it for awhile and it appeared weak. When I went to do chores, I took some corn and oats out to throw to it. It moved away from me but when I went back to the barn it quickly moved in and gobbled up that feed!!!
A little while later it seemed to be feeling brighter and was even honking some. It is in the pasture with the sheep and comes close to the barn but will not go in. Now, this wasn't so bad when the temperatures were hovering around 36 degrees, but now we are getting very cold temps and more snows! But, I can't coax her in (I don't really know if it is a he or a she - LOL) I took out a flake of straw for it to make a bed plus a small rubber water pan and I keep taking her feed.
I guess a goose knows if she gets to cold/wet that she needs to come in the barn, right? I mean, geese do live in the wild, so I am not to worried about that - the barn door is open and she is free to come in if she chooses to. But so far she has made a nest in that straw and seems content to let me come within about ten feet of her and throw her some feed.
So we have a Christmas goose that came to visit and decided to stay. A goose is one animal that I never had any desire to have...but Bill and Alex tell me they have always wanted one.
And now, I feel like she has chosen to live here with us, for however long, that
I kind of like having a goose, too!
(If anyone has any tips on goose care, I would be happy to hear them!)
Happy New Years Eve Everyone!
